This invention generally relates to the cutting and creasing industry, and more particularly to a system for and method of cutting paperboard and other materials for packages.
Packaging is an important aspect of marketing. The package in which goods are packed and presented, in a store for example, may determine if the goods will be appealing to a potential buyer in the store or not. Thus the packaging appearance can have a direct effect on the sales of merchandise.
A known preliminary requirement to construct a package is preparing or purchasing a pre-treated paperboard and/or plastic and/or paper based material. Paper based material may be of different types. Exemplary types may be: waxed paper, cartridge paper, art paper, etc. Henceforth, throughout the description, drawings and claims of this disclosure, the terms paperboard, paperboard, card-stock, display board, corrugated fiberboard, paperboards of different paper based material, folding boxboard, carton, blanks, blister cards, plastics, boards/papers with enhancement (UV coating, printing, for example) and lamination, and so on, may be used interchangeably. This disclosure may use the term paperboard as a representative term for the above group as well as variations thereof.
The pre-treatment of paperboard may include the following acts: creating folding lines along the paperboard to ease and provide accurate folding of the paperboard; piercing the paperboard in different areas; creating embossment in different areas of the paperboard; cutting the raw paperboard into predefined profiles; and so on.
Some common techniques for preparing a pre-treated paperboard include the acts of placing the paperboard between dies. Exemplary types of dies include a cutting-die; a creasing-die; an embossing-die; a scoring-die; a combination of the different types of dies; and so on. Other known techniques for preparing pre-treated paperboard may include the use of laser. One known technique for cutting board is described in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2013/0126489, which is incorporated by reference entirely herein.
When laser beam is used for cutting paperboards, burn marks may be formed on the paperboard itself. This may damage the esthetics of the paperboard and resulting package. Further the laser beam may damage the system itself in the long run.
One paperboard-handling system disclosed in the '489 patent application includes an under-laser raiser. Such an under-laser raiser may prevent burn marks (from smoke, and/or reflections of the laser's beam, for example) on the paperboard. Furthermore the under-laser raiser may protect the substrate and/or area underneath the paperboard from the heat of the laser beam.
The under-laser raiser of the '489 patent application has a plurality of protruding elements, substantially parallel one to the other. The plurality of protruding elements protrudes from a base. The protruding elements have a needle-like shape. A paperboard is placed in a substantially horizontal position on the top of the protruding elements.
A coupling and stabling mechanism is used to couple and stabilize the paperboard to the top of the protruding elements. The coupling and stabling mechanism includes a plurality of gaps (openings) in the base and a suction mechanism. The gaps are holes. The suction mechanism is a vacuum generator. The suction mechanism is intended to couple and stabilize the paperboard to the top of the protruding elements.
The vacuum is intended to hold the paperboard, blanks, and/or other cut parts (of the paperboard, for example) in required position on the under-laser raiser. This may be advantageously when the paperboard has been pretreated and parts of it are cut/and/or creased and thus may be free from other holding means. The vacuum may also evacuate the smoke caused by treatment of the paperboard by the laser beam, and advantageously prevent burn marks on the paperboard.
The system of the '489 application relies upon the retention of the paperboard on the tips of the protruding elements via the vacuum or suction generated by the suction mechanism communicated to the paperboard through the holes or gap in the base from which the elements protrude. The effectiveness of such a retention mechanism is due in large part to the ability of the suction mechanism to act upon the paperboard spaced from the holes in the base by the protruding elements. Such an arrangement requires a closed system surrounding the base, protruding element and paperboard arrangement and/or a powerful suction mechanism. Such requirements tend to be a restriction on the efficient, consistent and reliable processing of the paperboard through the system, among other drawbacks.
An improved system and method for laser cutting paperboard to address these and other identified drawbacks with the invention of the '489 application and other prior systems are needed and provided by this invention as disclosed herein below.